Chuck's Lasagna Recipe
 

Note from Larry:  In a recent newsletter to our clients, we made reference to Chuck's great lasagna. We were immediately flooded with requests for a recipe. Although we are primarily a technology company, we have a strong commitment to giving our customers what they want. Judging from last weeks emails, they apparently want lasagna <-:

Lasagna

Lasagna can be made many different ways and taste great. This recipe is only one version of many possible ways of doing it.

When I make lasagna at home, I often rely on what I find at hand. If I were doing this as a chef in a restaurant, I would be striving for some kind of uniformity in the product each time it was prepared.  But, I like to use what is in season and what is on hand. There simply is no one right way to make lasagna. 

I also generally make a large batch, using a 2 inch hotel pan (12 by 20 by 2 ½ deep), which is large enough for about 16 portions. I then cut the portions and wrap in food wrap and refrigerate so that I can pull out and reheat a piece of lasagna for several days.  But, the following recipe will work in a standard lasagna baking dish (I really like the Portmeirion Lasagna Baking Dish,  Birds of Britain design, it makes the lasagna taste so much better), which is 10 by 14 by 2 inches deep.

You should make enough sauce to have some left over for later serving. I like to make enough sauce so that when I reheat a portion I can add extra sauce and also to put a little sauce in the bottom of the serving dish upon presentation.  Please note that the pasta is dry and uncooked when the dish is assembled for baking. The pasta cooks along with the other ingredients. This is the method my friend Chef Patrick learned while at Bono’s, (or so he claimed) and which he passed on to me. 

Ingredients:  

Sauce:

• 1 ½ pounds ground beef (lean)

• 6 cloves garlic, minced (I go heavy on the garlic, it’s the health properties!)

• 1 small onion, diced

• 1 carrot, diced

• 1 stalk celery, diced

• 4 tablespoons olive oil (not extra virgin first cold press! Never use pomace oil)

• 1 can 6 in 1 all purpose ground tomatoes (1 lb. 12 oz.)

• 3 oz. good, dry red wine

• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

• 1 tablespoon oregano

• 1 tablespoon basil

• salt and pepper

Please note that you could add eggplant if you wished to do this vegetarian style and eliminate the beef. Also, you could add mushrooms, zucchini, and other veggies. It’s up to you.

Filling:

• 16 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded

• 16 oz provolone cheese, shredded

• 15 oz ricotta cheese (or half cottage cheese and half ricotta)

• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese

• 2 eggs

• ¼ cup milk

• lasagna pasta (buy the best quality dry pasta such as DeCecco)

Method

Prepare the sauce first, then the cheeses, then turn the oven to 375 degrees as you are about to assemble your lasagna using your prepared ingredients.

In a large sauté pan sauté the vegetable ingredients in the olive oil, adding the beef when the garlic and other vegetables are slightly browned, but not overcooked. This takes about 5 minutes on medium heat. Then, after adding the beef, continue to sauté until the beef is browned or cooked. Stir or shake the ingredients around quite a bit to encourage uniform cooking and to prevent burning the garlic and other vegetables. When the beef is browned, add 3 oz. red wine, the 6 in 1 tomato product, the oregano and basil and salt and pepper. Add the balsamic just before the sauce is completed.

At this stage you can heat the sauce up with red pepper flakes if you like, or you can add sun dried tomatoes if you wish.  Ingredients such as roasted red peppers, olives, spinach, etc is up to your own taste.     

Continue to cook this for a few minutes until all ingredients are incorporated. Keep warm on top of stove until ready to use. I like the sauce to be warm to mildly hot when the finished product is being assembled.

Cheese Prep: Shred the mozzarella and the provolone and combine together in a bowl. Mix the ricotta (add cottage cheese if you have elected to use any) together with the two eggs and milk in a separate bowl.

Final Assembly: Layer the bottom of the baking dish with sauce at least to completely cover so you don’t see the bottom of the dish, then place a layer of pasta over this being sure to coat the bottom and top of the pasta with sauce, and ladle some sauce over the pasta (this is what will cook the pasta), and then layer in some ricotta mix, followed by  some mozz/provolone mix (no rule requires this to be exactly uniform), then coat the next layer of pasta in sauce, and cover with sauce, the cheeses, and the next layer of pasta. Usually there should be 3 or 4 layers of pasta. Each layer must be coated with sufficient sauce because the pasta is not precooked. Top off with mozz/provolone mix, then cover with grated parmesan (parmesan does not come in a can, it comes in wedges from a good market, and it is grated by hand just prior to use).  Cover the baking dish tightly with foil. Place in oven at 375 for 35 to 40 minutes with the cover on, then remove cover and continue baking until parmesan is melted and somewhat browned, perhaps another 10 minutes or so. Remove and let sit for 10 minutes before cutting into the lasagna.

Serving: serve with extra sauce on the plate or bowl, serving the portion of lasagna over this, and sprinkle a bit more parmesan over the top, and a sprinkle of freshly chopped parsley.  I have discovered through trial and error that a nice 1992 Heitz Cellar Trailside Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon works well with this dish, but in a pinch a Pahlmeyer 1995 Meritage will do.